L'Aussie's Fair Dinkum Award

Heart Award

Holly's Badge

Literacy Builder Award

Book Blog

Countries

Disclosure

"My website may contain affiliate marketing links, which means I may get paid commission on sales of those products or services I write about. My editorial content is not influenced by advertisers or affiliate partnerships. This disclosure is provided in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR § 255.5: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Monday, March 28, 2016

Kristy Woodson Harvey: My Writing Room {+ Contest}

It’s my pleasure to welcome author Kristy Woodson Harvey back
to Thoughts in Progress today to talk about her upcoming April release of LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE.

While visiting with us, Kristy will also be talking about her ‘writing
room’ and how that changed when she became a mother. In addition, Kristy has an
awesome contest going on prior to the release of her new book. Please see the
end of the post for more details on the contest. Now, here’s a brief synopsis
of LIES
AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE:

Author
Kristy Woodson Harvey presents a new novel about what it really means to tell
the truth . . .

After
sixty years of marriage and five daughters, Lynn “Lovey” White knows that all
of us, from time to time, need to use our little white lies.

Her
granddaughter, Annabelle, on the other hand, is as truthful as they come. She
always does the right thing—that is, until she dumps her hedge fund manager
fiancé and marries a musician she has known for three days. After all, her
grandparents, who fell in love at first sight, have shared a lifetime of
happiness, even through her grandfather’s declining health.

But when
Annabelle’s world starts to collapse around her, she discovers that nothing
about her picture-perfect family is as it seems. And Lovey has to decide
whether one more lie will make or break the ones she loves . . .

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Kristy as we find
out about her writing room. Welcome, Kristy.

When I
decided to write a novel, one of my first considerations was how that would
look. What would I wear? Where would I sit? Would I wear glasses instead of
contacts to look a little more literary?

I was
leaving a corporate job, so I remember actually going out and buying little
skirts and tank tops that I thought would be cute yet comfy. (I hadn’t learned
yet that pajamas were considered perfect acceptable author gear!)

I picked
the perfect sunny window with a gorgeous view, splurged on the desk I thought I
couldn’t live without, lit a candle, made some tea, and got down to writing. I
learned pretty quickly that I don’t see nearly as well out of my glasses as my
contacts, so that bit was a no-go. And, for the first year or so, my peaceful,
routine-driven writing went very well.

Then I
had a baby. It is so cliché that a baby changes everything, but it’s cliché for
a reason. A baby did, in fact, change everything. Even the way I wrote.

I had
this image of the baby sleeping beside me in the bassinet while I jotted down a
couple thousand words. That was a total fantasy. As it turned out, the only
place I could get said baby to sleep was on my body. And I could complain about
it. Or I could figure it out. So I learned how to write while nursing. And type
one handed with a baby sleeping in one arm. Or on my lap in the car when he was
snoring in the car seat, or fifteen minutes at a time while something besides
me actually caught my son’s attention.

And it wasn’t
perfect. But it was progress. Some way, somehow, I got through the draft of DEAR CAROLINA. And, even more amazingly,
managed to edit it, which, for me, is the part that is much more time consuming
and requires infinitely more concentration. Then I started writing LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE too. And the
progress was slow, much slower than the days when it had been my desk and my
candle and my view and me. Much slower than when I would wake up and wash my
hair and put on my make-up and get dressed before I arrived at my desk.

The
coolest thing of all is that, when I quit worrying about what a writer was
supposed to look like and sound like and be like, I became my very own kind of
writer. And, instead of trying to sound like a writer, I started sounding like
me.

And guess
what? I got my first book deal.

Fast-forward
to now, the toddler years. I write at Starbuck’s during preschool because my
son’s school is thirty minutes away from our house. And I get in a few hundred
words during Sesame Street. And, yes, if that occasional nap happens in the
car, I’m always ready with my laptop.

Upon a
rare occasion, I do get to luxuriate at that perfectly chosen desk with the
gorgeous water view. And, during those times, sometimes I even light my candle
and have my tea. But, through babyhood and toddlerhood and all of the
distractions that life throws our way, I’ve learned that being a writer doesn’t
have to look a certain way. It just has to sound like you.

Kristy, thanks for joining us today and sharing this insight
into how your writing changed from your first perspective of what it should
until what it is now. Sometimes if we just let things come to us, the natural
order of life flows much smoother than we ever imaged. Seems like your writing
has developed that way.

Now for those who aren’t familiar with Kristy, here’s a bit of
background on her.

Author Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the
author of Dear Carolina. She holds a degree in journalism and mass
communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a
master’s in English from East Carolina University.

Order LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE and send
a picture of the receipt to kristy@kristywoodsonharvey.com between now and April 10 to
be entered to win a $1,000 Shop Design Chic gift card. Everyone who enters will receive copies of four gorgeous
printable quotes from the book! Order or pre-order from an independent
bookstore or Indiebound for two contest entries!

Thanks so much for dropping by today during Kristy’s visit. If
you’re a writer, please share what your first writing room (space) was (or is)
like. If you’re a reader, how do you envision a writing room should look?

Congrats on all her success. I did smile at the fact that she bought writerly gear and it involved skirts! Whatever makes you comfortable, but yeah...mostly I go from PJs to yoga pants and back to PJs each day!

Books by Authors Visiting

About Me

Hi, I'm Mason Canyon and I love reading and that is why I do reviews. I post them here, as well as several other sites such as Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If you are an author who would like for me to review your book or you would like to guest blog here, please contact me at mcbookshelf@gmail.com These reviews are done for the love of a good book, not for monetary rewards.